Inspiration for family travel around Florida and the world!
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Preparing for a road trip with kids soon and don’t know where to start? Well you’ve come to the right place! In light of Summer vacation sneaking up, I have been brainstorming ideas to keep our 3 and 5 year old entertained during trips.
And anyone that knows me, knows I’d way rather have them be entertained with anything but screen time lol. They are so little, learning and developing so much right now, I’d rather have them enriching themselves in some way then staring at a screen for hours.. So I like to plan plenty of time consuming, engaging and learning through play games, activities, toys and more to prevent screen time.
But when all else fails I will secretly be prepared with popping a movie into the built in DVD player or letting them play fun educational games on their Leap Frog Tablet. Just don’t tell my littles that 😉 PS. Make sure to download some FREE printables near the bottom.
Related:
Tips for Flying with Babies & Toddlers
How to Keep Kids Safe on Vacation- Part One
Common Car Seat Mistakes you Might be Making
My kids LOVE crafts, but thinking about craft supplies flying around in the car is enough to make me cringe ha. That’s why these mess free crafts are awesome! No mess = happy parents which = happy kids!
We bought a couple of these Water Wow pads for our trip abroad in May and they were and still ARE a hit! Just fill the included pens with water, then watch bright, colorful images appear like magic. Let them dry and the fun starts all over!
Who doesn’t LOVE glitter? This mess free glitter art set is perfect for little glitter lovers and parents that don’t want to clean the car for-ever! Mess free glitter- who knew?
Sometimes road trips mean driving in the dark. Toys that have lights are great for entertaining when it’s hard to see. This portable drawing toy is perfect for day and night! Kids can draw with the easy grip stylus or use their fingers. With 12 different colored background lights and music this toy can entertain for hours! Parent tip: You can flick the switch between music and lights or just lights.
Kids love markers and Moms love clean kids. Which don’t really go together… unless they’re color wonder markers and color wonder paper! Crayola sells special paper, coloring books and markers that only work together! Say good-bye to marker stained hands, faces and furniture. You can find all sorts of Color Wonder products here for your next trip.
I’m all for games and activities that engage my kids minds and teach them something while having fun, without pulling out screens. So I compiled the following activities for small to older children that can be played easily on road trips.
This easy DIY kit is a perfect learning and engaging activity. It helps little’s learn words, letters and colors. Fill a metal lunch box with magnetic letters and popsicle sticks with words written on them. Smarty pants hack: Write on both sides of the popsicle stick for more words.
You can buy or DIY all different kinds of boards and books! From Bible Scenes, Farm Animals, Ocean Life and Vehicles to Tiny Town Scenes. The options are endless with some creativity! You can try making a felt activity book, filled with all different kinds of felt games and activities. Short on time? Check out more pre-made felt books here!
My kids LOVE coloring. So bringing some coloring books and crayons is a must! Try an activity try to contain their coloring tools and toys from rolling everywhere.
This is a fun activity two or more can play together. Start with a blank paper and give the artist a drawing prompt aka “draw a circle in the center”, “draw an animal outside the circle”, “draw a square on top of the circle” etc. It’s fun to have a couple or more people play and compare drawings at the end to see how everyone perceived the instructions differently. Parent bonus points: Turn this into a learning game by instructing the artist to draw shapes, use certain colors, write words, draw a certain number of shapes and so on.
You can fill a binder with all sorts of activities! From coloring pages, map of the road trip route with pit stops marked, bingo pages, mazes, crossword puzzles, scavenger hunts, license plate I-spy and more! Don’t forget your FREE printables below that are perfect for a travel binder!
My son received two different boards for Christmas, and both of our kids will sit for hours playing on them. Quiet activities= parenting win! Especially on road trips! We LOVE the ones our kids have because not only are they the typical magnetic drawing board, which are entertaining in themselves. But they have learning activities built in, shape stamps and stencils, letter/word/picture/music inserts, helps teach their name, programmed writing and drawing activities, scribble gear tools and a lot more! The two below are the ones we own and love, love, LOVE! I can’t recommend them enough. To see them on Amazon click VTech Write & Learn Creative Center and VTech Stencil & Learn Studio.
I love Melissa and Doug items! And this “Flip to Win” license plate game is perfect like all their other products! It’s designed for 1-2 players and to be played on the go with no loose pieces. When they spot a license plate, they just flip the plate over to “cross” it off. With two color coded sides, two people can compete to see who gets the most!
Kids can have fun using the included stylus to “scratch” the black away and reveal colorful backgrounds and patterns hidden behind. Amazon has tons of different scratch pads. We love this Melissa & Doug Scratch Art & Doodle Pad because it has a built in stylus holder, hidden patterns and rainbow and holographic pages. These Scratch & Sketch Pads are awesome too! With numerous different themes, the 64 pages include short stories, pictures to inspire drawings and blank sketch pages.
A loves her Beauty and The Beast Magnetic Doll Travel Set she got from her Oma. I love that everything is magnetic, including the travel case, so it all stays together. They also have Sleeping Beauty, Frozen, Cinderella, Snow White, Fairies, Tangled & The Little Mermaid.
This is something I remember taking on road trips when I was younger. This set comes with 12 different game boards that hold their pieces inside when closed. Pop open the case/board and you instantly have a board game with magnetic pieces that stay put.
These back seat organizers are great, not just for road trips, but every day use to keep your car clean and organized. They are perfect for keeping everything off the floor, organized and easily accessible. Some even come with a cooler section to keep perishables and drinks chilled.
Tired of your kids constantly dropping their stuff out of reach? Try these awesome travel trays that give kids a flat surface to play, create and eat on. With the high sides it keeps toys, crayons and anything else that wants to roll from their lap, on their lap. No more “Mommy I dropped… can you get it please”, parenting win! Plus also check out this backseat organizer that has a fold down tray!
A new and improved “cooler”. Say good bye to needing to replenish ice to keep your foods cold. This cooler/warmer not only keeps food and drinks cold without ice, it also can keep hot foods hot! Simply plug into your cars cigarette lighter and you’re good to go!
I love organization, so everything has its special place (and not all over the floor), which makes me happy. And having misc things floating around our trunk drives me nuts! These trunk organizer bins and hanging storage pockets are great at keeping the trunk clean and mess free!
Whether it’s your teens stinky feet, left over fast food, need some energy vibes to keep driving, or you just want to freshen up the air. Bring along some Young Living Essential Oils with you (Spoiler alert: not all oils are created equal! And YL is the best in the business!). If you have been thinking about getting into essential oils, clean cleaners, good for you health/beauty products or want to add to your oil supply, click here to make a free account, and get your very own starter kit! When you do, you’ll have access to wholesale membership pricing at a no cost/no obligation membership, score! I tried some oils from Amazon and it wasn’t until a sweet friend introduced me to YL that I realized how different oils can be. After clicking here follow the steps to pick out which free diffuser you want! If you want to order every month, you can click yes to Essential Rewards. But you don’t have too. ER is their free membership, that let’s you earn rewards on your oil, health, beauty, cleaning and more products, on top of your free no obligation membership!
Perfect for kids of all ages! “Keep cups and toys clean and close!” Strap the Dropper Stopper to bottles, snack containers, toys and more! You can read my review and more on the Dropper Stopper here. We honestly don’t travel without these!
Related:
Tips for Flying with Babies & Toddlers
How to Keep Kids Safe on Vacation- Part One
Common Car Seat Mistakes you Might be Making
Simply fill the different compartments of a tackle box with an assortment of snacks and whenever your kids want a snack, hand them their box. They get to choose and you don’t have to keep digging out different snacks constantly.
A simple and healthy snack idea that’s ready to eat. Fill a mason jar or empty container with peanut butter, then add celery. Yummy and easy peasy.
You can buy freeze dried fruit, or make some at home. Healthy and no refrigeration needed! Scope out Pinterest for “homemade dried fruit”.
This is a fun activity the kids can help with. String everything from pretzels, gummies, cheerios and more onto a string and tie to make a necklace.
Here’s another snack idea the kids can help make. Mix equal parts of your kiddos favorite snacks, then separate into a bag for everyone. We did this on our last road trip with peanuts, pretzels, marshmallows and gold fish.
We have used these containers with the kids since A was a toddler. They are easy to clean, hold the perfect amount of snack, easy for little hands to hold, didn’t trap hands (Yes, can you believe it?! One of the brands was so firm, that my son refused to eat his favorite snack because it hurt to pull his hand out), and my favorite: SPILL PROOF! We tried a couple different brands before discovering the Munckin Snack Container Set. Hands down, love this snack container! We still have the same ones that we bought our daughter (who’s almost 6), when she was a baby. So they are also super durable!
You can hack your way to a backseat organizer with an over the door shoe organizer.
This a great idea for lots of different purposes. My favorite is: Instead of repeatedly loading and unloading suitcases, just grab and toss what you need for the night into one bag (or laundry basket) for the hotel. We use this one to organize ours shoes in the house. It looks a million times better then those clear/white storage drawers. Plus it’s so light, which is great for not weighing the car down more (which saves you gas $$).
If you’re on a road trip, heck, if you have kids, you need a trash can in the car, but especially on road trips! Convert a plastic cereal box or hang a gift bag for a cheap and easy trash can. Or check out this waterproof/inexpensive option that you can hang on the back of a seat or the center console.
Keep an open box of dryer sheets in the car for a cheap and long lasting car air freshener.
This is a daily thing in our SUV. Our kids are both in car seats still and we have found a square canvas bin fits perfectly between the two car seats. We keep it filled with books and toys for the littles to entertain themselves in the car. I like that they can reach and grab their own toys and it keeps them off the floor.
A few ideas on how to maximize the fun with these printables, are to laminate and put in a activity binder/clip board, or use clear sheet protectors. Which are great to keep them more durable, so you can use them repeatedly. Kids can mark the items off with a dry erase marker, sticker or bingo marker. Bonus: To up the fun, you can offer a prize to everyone that completes a board OR to who can cross everything off the fastest. Enter your email below to have them sent directly to your inbox (no spam, promise)!
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Great for all ages! This free printable has tons of popular and easy to recognize businesses, animals, vehicles and misc. objects.
This one is geared to kids a little older that can have a sharp eye and recognize the different logos.
Good for all ages, but probably suited more towards older kids that can quickly notice the signs. Our 3 year old still rear faces in the car. So this isn’t something he would be able to do, since he can’t see road signs quite yet. Which is okay with us since he is 5x safer rear facing (our daughter was almost 5.5 before forward facing).
Perfect for small children with the large, friendly and easy to understand pictures.
Thanks for reading! I hope you found a lot of helpful advice, tips and hacks! Don’t forget to download your free printables above and pin this post to Pinterest to save for later! What’s your favorite road trip tips with kids? Comment below to share with others 🙂
Related:
Tips for Flying with Babies & Toddlers
How to Keep Kids Safe on Vacation- Part One
Common Car Seat Mistakes you Might be Making
Title Options: Road Trip Hacks – Road Trip Tips with Kids – Sanity-Saving Road Trip Tips with Kids – How To Enjoy a Road Trip with Kids – 00 Things you need for a Road Trip with Kids – Road Trip Checklist – 00+ Ideas to Enjoy your Road Trip with Kids – Road Trip Hacks and Tips – Road Trip Activities, Games and Hacks for Kids – ADD “FREE PRINTABLES” TO PINS – 00 FREE Road Trip Printables For Kids – 00 FREE Kid Activity Printables for Road Trips